AcArya rAmAmRtam - sept 05 - 4

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SrI:

SrImate ra’ngarAmAnuja mahAdeSikAya nama:

SrImate SrInivAsa rAmAnuja mahAdeSikAya nama:

SrImate vedAnta rAmAnuja mahAdeSikAya nama:

SrI ra’nganAtha divya maNi pAdukAbhyAm nama:

SrI ra’ngarAmAnuja mahAdeSika divya pAdukAbhyAm nama:

 

AcArya rAmAmRtam - sept 05 - 4

Translation of

SrImad rAmAyaNa upanyAsam in tamizh by SrImad

tirukkuDandai ANDavan

 

As published in SrI ra’nganAtha pAdukA by

SrI U.Ve. nATTeri kiDAmbi rAjagopAlAcAriyAr (Editor

of SrI ra’nganAtha pAdukA)

 

The explanatory footnotes by SrI nATTEri svAmi are

indicated by “fn” followed by a number.

 

SrImad ANDavan tiruvaDi,

kalyANi krshNamAcAri

 

 

=====================================

SrI:

AcArya rAmAmRtam

SrImad rAmAyaNa upanyAsam by SrImad tirukkuDandai

ANDavan

 

“kAvyam rAmAyaNam kRtsnam sItAyA: caritam mahat |

paulastasya vadhamityeva cakAra bhagavAn rishi: || “

 

kAvyam rAmAyaNam kRtsnam is “sarva sruti manoharam”.

If you ask how that is – “samudramiva ratnADhyam” Just

as gems, pearls etc. are found in abundance in the

ocean, this rAmAyaNam is studded with numerous gems.

 

If a man tells his wife he is going to the ocean to

pick up some gems, takes some boxes for this from

home, and goes and stands in the ocean in knee-deep

water, he will get neither gem nor pearl, but instead,

will only get the shells of the snail, what you all

know as rAvaNan muzhi (laughter in the audience),

other shells etc; but not gems. He should know how to

swim in the ocean, be able to hold his breath, dive

down to the bottom of the deep ocean with a heavy rock

tied to his back to take him down, sift through the

sand and get gems from the ocean. If one studies

rAmAyaNam superficially, the deep meanings will not be

obvious. ‘ratnam’ in this context means the deep inner

meanings, the intricacies of dharmam.

 

The book is printed nicely; the translation is good.

Someone read the rAmAyaNam book, and declared: “There

is nothing in it”. There is nothing that he

understood. samudramiva ratnADhyam. The gems are deep

inside. One should dive deep and get them. One should

churn with the churning rod of buddhi or intellect. If

the ocean of rAmAyaNa is churned just like mandara

malai, very special meanings will be revealed.

 

Some people conduct ‘special research’ and present

special findings. I do not have any of this

‘research’ thing. I belong to the old -fashioned

tradition. I do not know ‘research’.

 

Four or five years back, one person said that he did

extensive research on rAmAyaNam and had discovered

some profound finding. When asked what that was, he

said: “In the old days, our country and the country

of China have had great relations; Chinses girls have

been given in marriage to Indian men, and vice versa;

there was no difference in caste”. I asked him what

book he read to discover this, and he responded that

it was from rAmAyaNam. I asked him for details. He

said even rAma married only a girl from China; SItA

was a girl from China according to him. He quoted

Janaka himself as the authority for this information,

and quoted the Slokam.

 

He quoted “pratIccha cainA………..m (SrImad ANDavan

prolongs the cainAm as AA…..m so that the word “China”

stands out clearly, and the audience bursts into a

very long laughter) bhadram te pANim gRhNIshva

pANinA”.

 

He had ‘special knowledge’ of samskRt!. People with

‘research mind’ do churning with dull minds and come

up with these ‘special’ interpretations. I do not

know those things. I will just quote some Slokam. I

will look at ‘commentary’ and give the meanings

(audience laughs).

 

“samudramiva ratnADhyam” – we have to get into the

samudram or ocean. I will explain in general terms.

 

The specialty of rAmAyaNam is that – rAmAnujar, who is

our AcAryar for our vaishNava religion, listened to

this rAmAyaNam from his maternal uncle, tirumalai

nambigaL, 18 times, (repeat) 18 times. If he did that

18 times, does that mean rAmAyaNam slokam is difficult

to understand?! He is an AcAryar who established a

religion; and they say that he listened 18 times!

There is so much depth of knowledge in it!

 

If we compare bhAratam, bhAgavatam and rAmAyaNam, the

style of rAmAyaNam is very easy. Kamban says

ramAyaNam is like

“vA’ngarum pAdam nAngum vagutta vAlmIki enbAn

tInkavi SevigaLAra dEvarum parugac ceidAn “.

 

Each Slokam has four pAda-s - lines; pAdam means

“line” in tamizh. At the rate of 4 lines per Slokam,

there are 24000 Slokams composed by vAlmIki. If we

take vAlmIki’s three lines in one Slokam, add our

own fourth line, and show it to knowledgeable vidvAns,

they will immediately declare that this is not

vAlmIki Slokam. Not a single line of his composition

can be replaced by anything; nor can anything be added

to it. The style is obvious – it can be seen in each

of the four pAda-s. He is such a great composer;

vAlmiki composed rAmAyaNam such that - “tI’nkani

SevigaLAra dEvarum parugac ceidAn” - He composed it

in such a way that even deva-s will listen to it and

enjoy - it is that sweet an epic.

 

“paThan dvijo vAkRshabhatvam IyAt” - there is no need

to read sanskrit. If one reads rAmAyaNam 5 times, one

can get sanskrit knowledge. This is how most people

who do rAmAyaNa upanyAsam do it! (there is a loud

laughter in the audience). There is no need for any

learning - vAlmIki has blessed them (the audience

laughs)!

“paThan dvijo vAkRshabhatvam IyAt”

=======================

 

 

To be continued………

 

 

 

 

 

 

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